After months of fretting about Donald Trump’s return to the American presidency, the US-Japan relationship appeared to get off to a good start. A successful leaders’ summit and a visit from Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth that reaffirmed the importance of Japan in deterring China left Tokyo less alarmed. But Trump’s decades-long convictions held firm: first, … Read more
If you do use the blog for research or database purposes, citation would be appreciated, to the blog as a whole and /or to specific blog posts. Many have suggested I should turn the blog into a paid for, subscription service however I have resisted doing so. Proper reference to how the blog is useful … Read more
1. Call for Papers: Latin American Society of International Law. The Latin American Society of International Law (Sociedad Latinoamericana de Derecho Internacional) is inviting paper submissions for its Seventh Biennial Conference, to be held from 31 July – 2 August 2025, at the Universidad de la República in Montevideo, Uruguay. The conference, titled ‘Latin America … Read more
Incredibly, the world witnessed a striking split-screen last week: US President Donald Trump addressed a joint session of Congress while Chinese Premier Li Qiang delivered his annual work report at the “two sessions” parliamentary meetings. One speech was met with heckling from the opposition and support from the speaker’s own party members, while the other … Read more
No historian could have watched US President Donald Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last month without recognising a 21st century version of the ritual public execution of a Roman gladiator. Trump gave the world a lesson in realpolitik when he told Zelensky: “You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you start … Read more